The present invention relates to a system for supplying an enclosure with trolleys or similar.
Although not exclusively, the system according to the invention is more particularly intended to be installed in aircraft for supplying trolleys, containing meal trays, drinks, reviews, etc. . . . and initially stored in the baggage compartment of the aircraft, into an enclosure situated in the passenger cabin of said aircraft. Such a system could of course be mounted on board freight planes for bringing trolleys containing equipment from the baggage compartment, where they are stored, to the upper deck.
Known systems are usually provided in the passenger cabin of the aircraft, the set of trolleys, containing particularly food products, being stored in cabinets situated in the passenger cabin close to one or more enclosures, such as galleys in which the kitchen equipment, the oven, the refrigerator, etc. . . . are disposed, the aircrew thus being able to carry out different tasks such as heating dishes, the preparation of drinks and distribution of meal trays contained in the trolleys.
Although this type of arrangement is advantageous for the aircrew because of the proximity on the same level of the food storage trolleys and the galleys, on the other hand, such an arrangement occupies a considerable volume in the passenger cabin, to the detriment of the number of passenger seats.
In addition, to attempt to overcome this drawback and increase the number of seats and, consequently, improve the profitability of the aircraft, a solution has already been proposed which consists in fitting out part of the baggage compartment of the aircraft so as to house the food storage trolleys and the galleys therein. This solution has in particular been tried out on DC 10 aircraft by Mc Donnell Douglas.
Although this system optimizes the number of seats for transportable passengers, since the galleys and the storage trolleys are situated in the baggage compartment, it nevertheless has drawbacks particularly from the point of view of the numerous technical modifications to be made to the aircraft. In fact, besides fitting out a considerable part of the baggage compartment to the detriment then of the freight which can be carried, it is necessary to pressurize and air condition the part of the baggage compartment thus fitted out, to provide an access ladder between the baggage compartment and the passenger cabin and to install a lift for transferring the trolleys from the baggage compartment to the passenger cabin. Furthermore, the arrangement of the baggage compartment remains nevertheless very uncomfortable for the aircrew because of the low height of the compartment and the incessant coming and going between the baggage compartment and the passenger cabin.
Consequently, for these different reasons, this solution has not been taken up for other aircraft so that, at the present time, the trolleys containing particularly meal trays, drinks and reviews are stored in cupboards in the passenger cabin, close to the galleys.